Shoot aliens, rescue people, fly backwards. Welcome to the world of Defender. Originally released in arcades back in 1980, Midway's little side scrolling space shooter quickly became a hit with gamers all around the world. Unfortunately though, the game didn’t fare well against the test of time.
I’m not saying Defender is a bad game, because it’s not, it’s a classic and it’s done everything right to earn that title, but when you get right down to it, the game’s been ported to nearly every system in one form or another - and by now you really have to wonder if there’s anything being offered that we haven’t seen before.
For starters the game does offer you the now standard HD improvements that every retro title outside of the Namco library has received. As usual they’re nice but nothing to write home about. Just a little extra gloss to make you feel like you’re getting the experience you paid for.
There’s also the new semi-stable multiplayer versus and co-op mode. As has become the custom for nearly all retro classics, multiplayer really consists of nothing more then playing the game while another person plays the same game to see who can get the higher score. It’s not terribly motivating and after so many retro titles have taken this approach to multiplayer you must again wonder if we’ll ever see anything new.
Game play remains exactly the same as it was in the original complete with the all-important scanner that lets you know where the enemy is hiding. You’ll be shooting aliens while defending mankind and to be fair this does prove to be a lot of fun.
The games somewhat sluggish controls come in two flavours, the standard port controls and the arcade original setup. If you want to play the game right you’ll want to use the classic scheme as it offers the most enjoyment, namely because instead of free movement on the analog stick you’ll have use a thruster button to move. It makes the game feel entirely different and in a way is much harder to play.
Really there isn’t too much that can be said about Defender. It doesn’t fail in any particular area, but it also doesn’t really succeed either. If Defender really does anything special at all it’s highlight just how stale the retro titles are. With the rush of retro tiles that whole nostalgia thing has completely lost its charm making playing these games seem less fun and more like a chore. Hopefully this will change.
Defender is rated E (Everyone) by the ESRB.
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